The Beast Inside
by Slenderbrine
Summary: Poor Danny. He's lost his family, no where to go, and has very mixed feelings for a girl in the Big Apple. A man named Ichabod Crane seems to want him and a gov't agency called SWORD (Saving the World and Our Resources Department) wants to recruit him. Why do so many people want a piece of him? Probably because he sold his soul to the Devil. I don't own Sleepy Hollow or Avengers.


**(So...this idea just came to me. There will be references to things that, remember, I do NOT own. This is just a story I thought about that I think would be everything. Except for the references to Ghost Rider and select characters from Sleepy Hollow, I ownonly the plot and the characters with powers **_**EXCEPT**_** for one. Start guessing.)**

"Speaking"

_'Thoughts'_

**PoV/ Time**

**Chapter Title**

**(Author's Note)**

**Prologue: How I Lost My Mortality**

**Danny's PoV**

It's cold. Dark. Wet. I am sitting in an alleyway, watching cars of all colors and sizes race past under the dark clouds torrenting rain upon me. I was sitting in the classic "my home is a box" position. Inside a box, of course. Shadows wrapped themselves around the rain-streaked dark red walls,causing the place to seem much more ominous. Where did the shadows come from, if the sky is wrapped in dark, wet blankets?

From the fire in the palm of my hand.

I know what your thinking. Or at least three things. #1: Are you a pyromaniac? No, I'm not. #2: Do you have a lighter? Sadly, no. #3: How are you doing that? Simple.

I gave my mortality to the Devil.

Ok, ok, I think I might be giving you cardiac arrest. Let me start from the beginning. And before you ask, no, I'm _not_ like Ghost Rider **(one of many references)**.

**τλε ****!)****Σ\/ι****㍎0****'$ ****δΔ/\/\Σ**

**One Month Ago, Portland, Florida**

I walked home from the bus that dropped me off, wondering, _'What happens after you die?'_ This question has been plaguing me, as I was completely alright with dying. It's natural. What I feared was that I could and would just cease to exist. I didn't want that to happen. I was almost home, with green shrubbery to my left and my old middle school, East Forest Middle to my right. I left that school after I got accepted into a private school, US Patrimony Private School. Has a nice ring to it.

I started to smell smoke, but shrugged it off. It was probably someone barbecuing. I saw some smoke coming from near my house and started speeding up. _'No, no, it can't be. I'm not that unlucky,'_ I thought, but even so, I sped up some more. I cut through some branches and through my neighbor's, Jacob's lawn. There, stood a shock to my eyes.

My house was in flames. An inferno had engulfed my house, smolder in the one-story yellow walls and tarnishing the brick-tile roof. I couldn't bear to think of the inside of the house, my precious and valuable possessions turning to ash. There were multiple firemen talking as a hose pumped out gallons upon gallons of water in a futile effort to put out the water. My entire family was coming over! I ran up to the nearest fireman frantically.

"Hey," I asked calmly, "what happened here?" The man sighed and said, "A tragic accident. A family was here for a dinner party. The bodies said that there were 4 senior citizens, 5 younger males, and 4 kids. Do you know them?"

Barely able to conceal my sorrow, I shook my head. If I said that I was the last member of my family, they would put me in an orphanage. I quickly backed up to across the street to Jacob's house and weeped. _'My family is dead, and so am I, on the inside. I can't find peace with this, so what's the point in dying?'_ I thought as I sobbed.

Then, I heard a sharp _crack_ and a shard of glass fell on my right. I stood up and looked behind me. The window was completely cracked, but wasn't coming apart. I could feel something inside of me, tugging. My body collapsed to the ground, but I remained standing. My see-through figure walked up to the mirror and walked through. Suddenly, my soul was in a forest.

**τλε ****!)****Σ\/ι****㍎0****'$ ****δΔ/\/\Σ**

**3rd Person PoV**

Danny's soul stood in the middle of a forest. It was a clearing, surrounded either by fallen trees or sickly, thin birch ones. There was a misty fog surrounding the clearing so he couldn't see out. The floor was dirt, spare a few rocks. He hears footsteps pacing, as if circling the clearing.

"So..." a rough, but powerful voice said, "why do you wish to never submit to fate?" The voice sounded male and rough, as if he yelled a lot. It was a deep baritone and sounded like it commanded authority. "Who's there?" Danny squeaked, "Who are you?"

"Who am I, child? That is not important. Just answer the question," the voice commanded. Danny hesitated, but eventually said, "My family is dead. I won't find peace by dying, knowing that my family died together and I must die alone, by suicide or wait for a natural cause. I would like to never die so I will never have to face them in shame."

There was a pause before the voice said, "I could let you never die." Danny looked around, searching for the voice. "How?" he asked.

"I could let you become immortal and never die, by wound or old age. Forever youth and invincibility," the voice answered. Danny thought for only a second before replying, "Fine do it."

"Glad to be of service," the voice answered. Suddenly, four men in British coats that haven't been seen since at least the 1700s, one of them headless, appeared. They walked toward me and lifted me up. "What?!" Danny cried out, "What are they doing?!"

"Just keeping you still, child," the voice says. Clopping sounds fill the air evenly, like footsteps, getting closer and closer to Danny. He manages to flick his head to the left, but wishes he didn't. What he saw made him cringe, and pretty much regret his decision.

It was nearly 10 feet tall with pale, puke-colored skin. His legs alone were 5 feet tall and inverted at the knees each, with goat hooves for feet. The skin around his legs were wrapped tightly, revealing his bones. His body was the other 4 feet. Unlike his skinny legs, his body was made of pure muscle, his abs clearly showing under the puke-colored skin. His arms were equally as powerful, ripped and busted. His hands dipped down to his knees. There were only three fingers and a thumb, but the claws on his hands that were 6 inches long. His head was the scariest part. His head was just a large human skull with rams' horns coming out of the sides of the bone. Upon closer look, it wasn't bone, but closely wrapped skin on his skull. Who's body is this, that Danny made a deal with?

The body described belongs to the Devil.

**τλε ****!)****Σ\/ι****㍎0****'$ ****δΔ/\/\Σ**

**Danny's PoV**

The Devil stalked toward me.

I couldn't struggle. I was helpless. He finally reached me and crossed his arms. I close my eyes, knowing that my deal was coming. "Not many people know this, but immortality is like a recessive gene. The 'mortality gene' is dominant and covers it up. I'm just taking away that 'gene'." Oh, _this_ is going to hurt.

But to my surprise, it wasn't going to. "Sleep, Daniel. For tomorrow, you wake _alive_." I don't like how the Devil stressed the 'alive' part, but there was no time to ponder it. I had already passed out.

**τλε ****!)****Σ\/ι****㍎0****'$ ****δΔ/\/\Σ**

I woke up next to a not-shattered window.

I got up, wondering if it was a dream. The sun was high, and there were a few airplanes in the sky. I walked up to the remains of my house across the street. It was practically an empty lot with a few wooden supports sticking up. There was a single shard of glass on the ground and pick it up, only to throw it back down in shock. In the reflection was my face, but with vertical pupils, like a cat's.

_'Wait a second!'_ I thought, _'Cats have night vision, so...'_

I look up again. It is _not_ a sun in the sky and there are _not_ airplanes in the sky, but a moon and stars. This causes me to wrap up one conclusion. Not only did he make me...wait. I'm _immortal_!? Cool. But, like I was thinking, not only am I immortal, but he did..._something_ to me.

I couldn't stay here. I didn't exist. I would go north. Pittsburgh, maybe New York. Somewhere not here, away from the memories and discover myself.

**τλε ****!)****Σ\/ι****㍎0****'$ ****δΔ/\/\Σ**

Here I am, in a box in the rain, warming myself with the fire in the palm of my hand. I discovered this somewhere in a North Carolina forest, alone and wet. I was tired, thinking about how much I wanted a fire. Then, my hand felt warm and I realized I had a fireball in my hand. I took it relatively well: I dunked my hand in a nearby river multiple times. It didn't go out, so I guessed it was hellfire, with the Devil and all.

I had a green and plain t-shirt, brown cargo pants, and white and gray Nike sneakers. My shirt was faded and dirty, my pants were full of food, money, and assorted things I've 'borrowed'. My sneakers were worn and falling apart. The glasses one my face were relatively clean. My blond hair was messy, as usual, and skin was dirty.

I got up from my box and walked out of the alley, into the busy river of people and traffic. I casually walked around, avoiding people using my advanced reflexes I found out about in Georgia, running from the police with a few hundred bucks in my hands and pockets. I still have about $200 out of my original $350. I got really hungry.

So, I walked around New York for a while, trying to memorize the layout and take in the sights. Suddenly, I felt a hand reach into my pocket and take my remaining bills. I quickly turned around to see a figure about as tall as me in rags run the opposite direction. "Hey!" I call out, "Stop!"

I chased the figure through the Big Apple. He ducks, turns, weaves, jumps, anything to loose me. I would've been long behind if not for my new reflexes. Yay for immortality. Eventually, he ends up in a dead end in an alleyway. "Got you," I say, "so give me back my money!"

If I had been thinking at that moment, I would've remembered he _knew_ New York and all of it's turns. But, I didn't, so when 6 other kids jumped out of garbage heaps and trash cans, I was surprised. The kid in front of me pulled a shiny switchblade out of his pocket and said, in a smooth voice, "No. _We_ have _you_."


End file.
